Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has described a large portion of Nigeria’s tax consultancy industry as complicit in criminal activity, alleging that 90 per cent of tax consultants in the country are actively engaged in helping clients evade taxes.
In a video that has sparked widespread attention, Oyedele did not mince words in accusing tax professionals — including lawyers, accountants, and other practitioners — of deliberately manipulating the tax system for personal gain.
“We have a lot of tax consultants. Maybe tens of thousands of tax consultants – lawyers, accountants, tax practitioners,” he said.
“That’s what they do for a living. The vast majority of them, 90 per cent of them, are selling tax evasion for a living.”
According to Oyedele, these consultants routinely falsify financial records, underreport company profits, and bribe tax officials to drastically reduce tax liabilities for their clients.
“They go to a company, the tax they are supposed to pay is N10 million, you say nobody pays N10 million,” he revealed.
“You cook the books so that they can pay N1 million. Pay a bribe to the tax man and keep the rest to yourself and move on to the next client.”
The committee chairman warned that the role of these consultants goes beyond unethical behaviour, accusing them of being central actors in a widespread, systemic criminal enterprise that undermines national development.
“How can the country be better like that? We know politicians have their own problems. But we have to solve these problems together,” Oyedele said.
To curb the growing crisis, the government is introducing a set of strict requirements for tax consultants, including new standards of competence, integrity, and compliance.
“We have now a new rule. For you to represent anybody as a tax consultant, you must pass: one, a competency test. Two, an integrity test. Three, compliance. You cannot give what you don’t have,” he announced.
Oyedele’s comments add fuel to an already intense debate about corruption in Nigeria’s financial ecosystem, and they signal a tougher stance from the federal government towards professional misconduct in the tax sector.
